Spring 2008 Lone Star Freeride (help pick a SPOT)

[QuickMick]

PreMix1 sent me a message on pwctoday. This is the response I gave him.


Only at night....the drug running and things are really bad because of how close you are to Mexico. (5 miles from the Rio Grande and the drug runners will come in at night with their high speed boats to off load their goods....and they shoot first without asking questions if they see people they dont know.


Hope this helps.
Any other questions......let me know. I'll help you out the best I can.

We will send in JB for Recon!

 

[The Penguin]

Sound's like very good advice. I had a feeling S Padre Island was not PWC friendly.

That said, how's corpus or Port A or Port O'Connor?

Port O'Connor is definately out.

It is an inland port, with a nice long run (several miles) before you get to surf (at Pass Cavallo). The pass has some wicked wicked surf - I was there the weekend before our last ride.

There is absolutely no beach access from POC.

Matagorda could be a possibility, but they now have restrictions for beach access as well.

 

[JonnyB]

We will send in JB for Recon!

:bigok:

 

[The Penguin]

PreMix1 sent me a message on pwctoday. This is the response I gave him.


From looking at the pics you posted up on there, I can tell you what those pics are NOT showing you. And that is 1 of the 3 sandbars that lays about 2 - 5 feet under those waves. South Padre Island...all though it can be nice, is not very Jet Ski friendly. A lot of boat ramps do not allow PWC's to launch at their ramps and the ones that do charge 10 bucks per trailer. There is no place to launch from the surfside as they do not allow pwc's to launch from the beach. So that means you have to ride all the way around the Island and out the channel to get to the surf. You have to drive all the way down to the North end of the Island to drive on the beach and they still do not allow Dirt bikes or quads on the beach as they say that the sand dunes are protected and illegal to ride in....whether you have intentions to or not. Camping on the beach is only permitted at the very north end of the Island where you can drive on the beach.....however there is absolutly NO police protection out there and the local gangers and drug runners know this. And it gets really bad as far as attacks and stuff during the spring break months.

So lets say you do say screw it and drive 500 miles down there and decide to ride. Hotels are freakin outragous and you need to schedule / reserve the campgrounds months in advance. The surf definatly uses it name that Marty Roberts gave it years ago as the Texas Washing Machine. There are all kinds of sunken shrimp boats in the surf that you cant see on a heavy surf day (and it does get ugly in the Spring) and they are still hard to see even if its flat. By the time you see them....you have already removed the lower deck of your ski on the wheelhouse of the boat. The sunken shrimp boats are not so much of a problem where all the hotels are at, but once you get North of the hotels......they dont try and save them or pull them out. So therefor they just keep getting sucked down in the sand and surf deeper and deeper.
Coast Gaurd, Border Partrol and Parks and Wildlife strictly enforce the no beach launching during Spring Break and also there is a strict law about how close you can get to the beach in the surf on a PWC without a permit. And unless you own a hotel or beach service where they rent pwc's....you wont get one.

On the South Side of the Ship channel is Boca Chica Beach. No hotels....Good be decent surf....but you have to ride out the channel, past the rocks and still risk dealing with the sunken shrimp boats on that side. Oherwise your driving all the way down to Brownsville, drive out to Boca Chica beach (where they dont care what you do out there) and still have the same dangers. Only at night....the drug running and things are really bad because of how close you are to Mexico. (5 miles from the Rio Grande and the drug runners will come in at night with their high speed boats to off load their goods....and they shoot first without asking questions if they see people they dont know.

In my opinion.....and this is coming from someone that has lived there for years ( now live in Houston ), Taking your ride to SPI.....would be a waste of your time.

Hope this helps.
Any other questions......let me know. I'll help you out the best I can.

OK - SPI = bad idea.

what about PINS...but not PINS specifically as I already know that it requires 4x4 only access and does not allow PWC. What about the area of beach (I don't know what it it called) just before you actually enter PINS?

how would one go about getting a permit to launch a PWC in the surf at SPI? is it an ordinance or what? How can we fight it? sounds like a problem for AWA to take up.

 

[timbo512]

I'll await the Austin guys recon to Port A before voting. We've been there numerous times. Can't say I've seen any skis on the beach areas, though. Mostly surfers and body boards. Thats all we've done. But the waves are choice. Everything would be a mile drive from Hotel to beach. We could all camp on beach but that was just freaking nuts the last time we went during the spring.

 

[tursiops93]

A little Port A info from my experience....

You have to go to at least marker 50 to launch watercraft off of the beach. Marker 50 is 2-3 miles out of Port A down Mustang Island where the condos are.

I do not know what kind of RV sites there are or if they are allowed on the beach overnight down there. Those without RVs or who do not want to sleep in a tent would have to rent the Condos.

Depending on the time of year, the Portuguese Man-o-wars can be terrible and most of the year the beaches get covered with seaweed that smells terrible (This has been the case almost everytime I have driven on that beach).

 

[JeffX2&SX]

Crystal Beach sounds like the place, doesn't seem there is any other good spots. I don't care where, I would just like more opportunities.

 

[Odd Duck]

So, have we decided on where and when? Poll looks like CB. I need dates, my clinics are wanting to schedule Saturdays in March, I need to give them my available dates.

Are we doing spring break or avoiding it? And when is it for most of you this year?

See POLL!

 

[JonnyB]

Texas State University Spring Break March 8-16. So 13-16?